Improvement in shade-holders for lamps



M. W. HOUSE.

Shade-Holders for Lamps.

No. 141,223, Patenmllul 29,1873.

UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE,

MARK WIGGINS HOUSE, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENTJN SHADE-HOLDERS FOR LAMPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 141,223, dated July 29, 1873; application fiJed May 29, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARK WIGGINS HoUsE,

of Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State of Ohio, have made an invention of a new and useful Shade-Holder for Lamps; and that the following is a full, clear, and exact description and specification of the same.

Shade-holders have heretofore been constructed to hold shades by means of a solid flanged ring which receives the rim of the shade within it, or by means of arms which are hook-formed at their outer ends, so as to engage with the flaring rim of the lower side of a lamp-shade. Shade-holders of the former class are generally used to connect (what are termed in the trade) Vienna shades with lamps; but as the solid flanged ring is a mere rest for the shade, the latter is not securely held. Shade-holders of the second class will hold securely shades with flaring rims; but as the rims of Vienna shades do not flare, such shade-holders are not adapted to secure Vienna shades to lamps.

The object of my present invention is to enable Vienna shades to be securely held to lamps; and to this end .I take advantage of the fact that Vienna shades are constructed with a recess above their lower rims, and construct my shade-holder so as'to engage in this recess, and secure the shade by outward pressure, in contradistinction to holding the shade by inward pressure, and also to holding it by simply forming a rest in which the shade sits by gravity.

My invention may be embodied in various forms; but in order that my invention may be fully understood, I have represented in the accompanying drawing, and will proceed to describe, a shade-holder embodying my invention in what ldeem the best form for ordinary kerosene-lamp burners.

Figure 1 represents a side view of a lampburner with the shade-holder and with a shade applied to it, a portion of said shade being removed. Fig. 2 represents a plan of the shade-holder and burner.

The said shade-holder has a stock, A, which is of suitable size to be applied to the lampburner with which it is to be used.' This stock, in the present case, is of ring form, and is constructed so as to be fastened to the lamp-burner B by means of a clamp-screw, in the mode described in my patent of April 1,

A. D. 1873. The construction of the stock may, however, be varied to suit the particular burner with which the shade-holder is to be used. The stock has three retractile arms, 0 O O, secured to it. -These project upward and outward, and their upper ends, 6, are turned outward, so that they may enter within the recess formed by the enlargement f of the shade D, above its lower rim g. The retractile arms 0 are connected by a divided ring, F, which is connected with the arms by forming their outward turned ends into rings, 8, Fig. 1, which embrace thedivided ring. Either the retractile arms or the divided ring, or both, (the last by preference,) are made of spring metal, such as hard brass wire, so that unless retracted by pressure they extend to a larger perimeter than that of the interior of the rim d or the recess f of the shade, as represented at Fig. 2. The ends r r of the divided ring are turned inward, and are, by

preference, formed into upright rings, so that they afford a convenient hold for the thumb and forefinger of the hand of the user.

When. a Vienna shade is to be connected with a lamp fitted with my new shade-holder,

. the outer ends of the arms 0 are retracted by pressing the two ends 1' r of the divided ring 1 toward each other by the thumb and forefinger, so that the periphery of the shade-holder is retracted sufficiently to enter the rim of the shade. After the shade is applied to the shade-holder, the pressure of the thumb and finger are relaxed, and the elasticity of the ring and retractile arms causes the shadeholder to expand into the recess of the shade curing the shade to the burner.

The shade-holder represented in the drawand to bear against its inner surface, thus seing has the arms and divided ring both made of spring wire; but it is plain that the divided ring only may be made of spring wire, if the retractile arms be flexible, as the spring of the divided ring will then expand the retraetarms, and divided ring, substantially as beile arms. So, also, the retractile arms alone fore set forth.

may be made of spring metal, if the divided Witness my hand this 24th 'day of May, A. ring he flexible. In the latter case, the ring D. 1873.

furnishes a convenient means of retracting MARK WIGGINS HOUSE. the arms simultaneously by one operation of the hand of the operator. Witnesses:

I claim as my invention- M. R. KEITH,

The combination of the stock, retractile W. H. PEARSON. 

